REVIEW: Hymotion Battery Plug-In Prius

[problemchild]

Dont the hiper milers get between 125-175 with stock cars?

"200 MPG and Still Trying
The acknowledged king of hypermiling is Wayne Gerdes, a former nuclear power plant operator who lives in the Chicago suburb of Wadsworth, Illinois, and who founded the Clean MPG Web site.

Gerdes has posted a lengthy treatise on the hows and whys of hypermiling, and attained more than 200 mpg in his Honda Insight hybrid over a 40-mile drive, and 127 mpg in a Prius on a 30-mile trip."


Seems if you drive like a blue-hair you dont need a 10 million dollar battery.

Wonder what happens to the mpg if your drive it normal and dont clog up the highway?

[TheForce]

Originally Posted by problemchild

Dont the hiper milers get between 125-175 with stock cars?

Yes they get that much in a stock Insight. The prius however is in the 120 range. But they are alo average speeds of 15-25MPH on level back roads with little to no traffic.

Seems if you drive like a blue-hair you dont need a 10 million dollar battery.

True but you would be holding up traffic.

Wonder what happens to the mpg if your drive it normal and dont clog up the highway?

100+MPG at about 55MPH for about 50 miles. Driving the speed limit is not holding up traffic.

[Zythryn]

Originally Posted by problemchild

Wonder what happens to the mpg if your drive it normal and dont clog up the highway?

If you really wonder, there is a review of the hymotion battery pack where the reviewing addresses that exact thing...

For my first commute to work I decided not to use my EV button or any hypermiling tricks to see what kind of normal MPG I could expect.

(it is this thread, first post if you didn't guess already)

[David Beale]

Nice video of the work commute. Higher res. would have been nicer, but it's amazing how the tar filled cracks in the roads "take over" the video.

Oh, and what do you mean "I can't drive 55". That's what you do!

[usbseawolf2000]

Is there acceleration benefit with the A123 pack? The pack add 200 lbs but does it provide more juice to the electric motor? I am not familiar with Hymotion implementation. Does the OEM HV pack work together with A123 pack to provide juck to the electric motors?

[boxer93]

Jay,
Your writeup is great. I've had to buy a scangauge and an EV switch since you started this post I'll be better prepared for my pack. I got my appt. 8/25 0700, P/U 8/26.
Interesting comments on the hypermiling, I'm almost the opposite. I've put less than 1000 miles in the 40 days I've owned/driving a Prius. Although with tips from all here at PC I'm getting 55mpg. Hoping 100mpg on the L5 will be cake.
Chris

[okiebutnotfrommuskogee]

Great write-up. Thanks so much. I watched the install at Hybridfest, but your information and pictures show a lot more than we could see there.

I do have one question. What is the panel at the front of the trunk area just below the (window shade) cover? Is it part of the hymotion conversion or is it a piece you added? I don't recall seeing it on the car at Hybridfest.

Thanks again

[problemchild]

Originally Posted by TheForce

Yes they get that much in a stock Insight. The prius however is in the 120 range. But they are alo average speeds of 15-25MPH on level back roads with little to no traffic.



True but you would be holding up traffic.



100+MPG at about 55MPH for about 50 miles. Driving the speed limit is not holding up traffic.

I like that 100 number. I'm 1st on the list for the 2010 prius with phev. Hopefully it will be the equal of your install.

[9G-man]

Very cool mod, very good right-up, impressive results.
I have to wonder, though, what affect this will have on your stock traction battery, considering your observation that all the Hymotion power in routed through it.

And, of course, the effect of extended EV operation, on components that, possibly, were originally designed for more brief EV operation?

I had imagined the possibility of buying a well used Prius and doing this mod to make it more cost effective, but the fact the stock battery condition is going to play a role in all this makes me re-think that plan.

[TheForce]

Half tank update! Well it would be about a half a tank if I did not have this extra battery.

So I'm 300 miles in on this tank and everything is still running smoothly. I'm still learning how to exploit this pack on my normal commute to get higher numbers. Normally at this point in the summer I would be at about a half a tank and a little over 60MPG. Currently my CAN-view is showing 154MPG and my ScanGauge is showing 138MPG. My CAN-view has always been within 2MPG of my MFD so I will be using it for my tank averages. I'm currently down one pip and the CAN-view is showing %90 of the fuel remaining. So going by the tank percentage numbers I should have about 2700 miles to go on this tank? Or 1240 miles if you go by my current average and a 10 gallon fill up. I hope my numbers are right.

I might be able to get my tank average above 200MPG seeing how I'm able to get 300+MPG on my way to work and 200+MPG on my way home. I'm going to start bowling this Monday and its a 60 mile round trip to the bowling center and back. I'm hoping it wont effect my average too much. I don't think it will because my friend and I are going to be rotating driving up there.

My next official update will be at 600 miles.

Originally Posted by usbseawolf2000

Is there acceleration benefit with the A123 pack? The pack add 200 lbs but does it provide more juice to the electric motor? I am not familiar with Hymotion implementation. Does the OEM HV pack work together with A123 pack to provide juck to the electric motors?

I don't have a way of testing that unless I try to go to the local drag strip. I've been meaning to do that ever since I got the car but just never had time. My guess is that it may help a little since you would have %80 SOC through the whole acceleration. I will try to do some 0-60 tests after I get this tank in and see which "feels" faster. Or better yet blindfold someone and see if they can feel a difference.

Originally Posted by okiebutnotfrommuskogee

I do have one question. What is the panel at the front of the trunk area just below the (window shade) cover? Is it part of the hymotion conversion or is it a piece you added? I don't recall seeing it on the car at Hybridfest.

I think your referring to my in car PC.
http://priuschat.com/forums/prius-mo...c-project.html

Originally Posted by 9G-man

what affect this will have on your stock traction battery, considering your observation that all the Hymotion power in routed through it.

And, of course, the effect of extended EV operation, on components that, possibly, were originally designed for more brief EV operation?

I had imagined the possibility of buying a well used Prius and doing this mod to make it more cost effective, but the fact the stock battery condition is going to play a role in all this makes me re-think that plan.

I don't think it will effect the stock battery. The Prius still has control over the charge that goes in and out of the battery. When I was doing my EV only test the SOC got below %45 and it kicked me out of EV mode. So the safety is there to keep the battery happy.

As far as the components go it has yet to be seen. There have been plug-in Prius for a few years now and no reported failures of parts related to EV only that I know of. When parts are designed they are engineered for %100 use but when they actually get used its more like %40. I think the prius will do fine.